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Civil union legislation creates many questions in GLBT community

Cristina Aguilar, left, and her partner, Sonrisa Lucero, have their picture taken during the Post-Passage Punch Party hosted by One Colorado at the Punch Bowl Social in Denver on Tuesday. "We have been happily awaiting this news. We knew our day would come, we just had to be patient." (Photos by Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post)

The fizzy celebration of the passage of civil-union legislation in Colorado is over, and now some same-sex couples are taking a sober look at what the historic new law means.

Carmah Lawler and Kathy Glass of Lakewood, now in their 80s, have been partners for decades. Although they testified at the legislature on behalf of equality for years, they greeted the news with restraint.

"After 35 years, it's not a matter of leaping into a civil union," Lawler said. "I think we have to be far more cautious till we know what the Supreme Court and the federal government is going to do."

Questions about the new state law, however, mean they'll immediately call their lawyer about whether their pension benefits now can be passed to each other after death.

"That might make a difference about whether we can afford to continue to live in the house we live in," said Law-ler. "Could one person's income manage all that?"

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Lawyers say they are getting many calls from same-sex couples whose specific questions depend on their unique life stage and circumstances, from family law to estate planning.

"I've gotten an influx of calls related to how this will affect those who've been married in another state, or just finished their adoption, or have a domestic-partnership agreement," said Ryann Peyton, a lawyer who specializes in same-sex family law and is president of the Colorado GLBT Bar Association. "People want to know the pros and cons of getting a civil union."

There are so many questions that the Center will be holding classes in April in Denver and Fort Collins. Called Civil Unions 101, they will educate about everything from which areas of law are covered under a civil union to things to consider before entering into one.

On a broader level, the passage of the bill brought immediate peace of mind to Jason Cobb and his partner, Jason Prussman, who have a 6-year-old son.

"People providing services when interacting with my family now won't need their own lawyer to understand how to treat us," he said.

Like many same-sex couples, Cobb and Prussman have a complex set of legal papers — including designated-beneficiary paperwork, and a birth certificate for their son that lists both of them as parents.

But service providers often didn't understand those papers, and once when they had to take their infant son to urgent care with a sudden illness, it was sheer chaos.

"We couldn't even get past the check-in to see someone because they kept insisting that they needed to have his mother's information," said Cobb. "It was a second-parent adoption, so it was just us on the birth certificate. We kept saying, 'It's just us; we're what he has.' "

Once the employee understood, the computer system was not configured to accept two fathers. "Just say I'm the mom," Cobb offered.

But if the new law will simplify many elements of domestic life, such as parenting, it will complicate others. Couples who married in states such as Iowa and Massachusetts, where gay couples may wed, will be recognized as having a civil union in Colorado, said Peyton, which could mean trouble if the couple decides to split up.

"We can dissolve the civil union in Colorado, but in Iowa, the marriage will still be intact," Peyton said. "It's a bit more of a problem because you might have to go through the process twice."

As Peyton looks toward the short-term impact of civil unions, she sees a legal system grappling with other unprecedented issues.

"Once it goes into effect, there may be a huge influx of folks going out and grabbing it, thinking it will solve all their problems," she said. "By the end of the year, we may see the first wave of dissolutions, and no one knows what the court will do."

Many judges don't see same-sex couples that often, and then it's mostly cases of parenting, she said.

"It's rare in my practice to take property issues all the way to trial. Usually, those are settled," she said. "So a lot of the bench will be dealing with property issues, which is very, very new."

On Tuesday, Cristina Aguilar, 36, and Sonrisa Lucero, 32, had the same specific questions as those of such couples as Lawler and Glass, but the couple, who met at the Circle of Latina Leadership in 2009, felt a world of difference.

"We can hold hands tighter and more openly," said Aguilar. "We are no longer second-class citizens under the law. We have the same rights as everyone else, which allows you to feel a bit more open being who you are."

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